it doesn't require any education. all you have to have is patience, do a little research, and you've got it. >> smith: saving for retirement seemed as simple as betting on the market. >> it was a great time. employees who participated in these plans and invested in the stock market couldn't wait to open their monthly statements to see how much the value had gone up, you know. so things seemed to be working nicely. >> well, i was invested in everything: stocks, mutual funds, you name it. we would get monthly reports: things were growing, everything was growing. in the '90s, you could not lose money in the market even if you were a dumb investor. i mean, it just kept growing and growing and growing. >> internet stocks drove a powerful surge on wall street today. >> internet stocks suddenly... >> the economy was doing great. i mean, you had all kinds of gains in the stock market. that was kind of the dot-com era. >> those internet stocks continue their meteoric rise... >> you really didn't have to pay attention to... you